headquarters where the former senator is joining us live. senator, yourr thoughtos the finish tonight? >> i feel great. you know, it is a wide open race right now and we feel great and newt won in his back yard. he is from atlanta. and mitt romney won in his back yard itate he lived in and we won on neutral turf. we are moving off the neutral turf and we think we will have the advantage as we continue on in the campaign and we foal our message is growing and stronger and more sharp and we are the candidate that is solid one that is not the one you have to worry about or that is ricky and not strong enough and hasn't had the true convictions. but we have the good attributes of both and hopefully as we go forward we'll see that. >> earlier in the week, newt

gingrich call would for you to drop out and perry to drop out and perry did and he endorsed newt gingrich. and you said it is humorous of newt gingrich to have you you drop out when you came in ahead of him in the prior two contests and are you rethinking that at all after tonight's result a.>> >> absolutely not. you know, each person won one . there is more primaries to go. it is a good thing for the party and candidate. as you say, there is issues coming up every week about things that we need to know and learn. and we have to see how they react to it. it feels sharper. and focused on bark obama and focused on the republican message and what we want to

do. and that is a good thing for us to be alive and thriving . it is no longer the mitt or anti-mitt. we have 3different choices as a contrast that you want with barack obama and policies you want to contrast with obama. and personalities and background you want to contrast and as we go on, we'll do very, very well. >> senator you should have done well with the evangelical voters in south carolina. you picked up 19 percent of those compared to 44 percent for newt gingrich. what happened in your appeal to that group of voters especially? well, again, we did better in some states among the evangelicals than newt. we blew it away in iowa. this is his back yard and he was spending time here when i

wasn't. because i was focused on iowa more than here. he put the ground work and he did the homework and deserved a great victory here tonight . now we are past three, everybody spent a significant amount of time. romney spent most of his time in new hampshire and i spent time in iowa. and newt in south carolina. and as we go forward in the states to come it is a even playing field. >> senator, folks who say, in order to beat mitt romney, you have to consolidate at some point. conservatives have to get together at some point if they want to stop mitt romney who arguably has a lott of support in the so-called tabement as people say. what do you say to those folks? >> wait a minute. mitt romney lost two out of three races. the only race he won was in his own back yard. look at the ceiling, 25%.

i mean, this is the idea that romney is the obstacle here is that -- that narrative is not working anymore and not true. i don't know if it was ever true. the idea now, is that we have a strong principle conservative who was a leader in congress and moderate massachusetts depov gov and moderate who was an erratic conservative when he was inned wellership. they have to look and decide who they want to go up against barack obama in the fall. he won heavly democratic districts and appeal to the reagan. and other two characters and good folks. it may not have that appeal. south carolina is not at play in the fall. pennsylvania and florida plays in the fall. we'll see how we do in those states.

>> senator, late deciders in south carolina broke for newt gingrich and it would suggest that they did not find the issue with his ex-wife to be a deal breakk yer they are impressed with his debate performances. most of the pundits thought you had good nights for yourself and department seem to be enough to convince the south carolina voters that you were electability. how do you change folks minds on that going forward? again, i think you have to go back and lookk at other states. no one thought that newt was most electable . he lostt those and came in fourth and fith. newt planted his flag here and did a good job and had a big bump with rick perry endorsing him and a big bump with a flamboyant debate performance. he did a great job.

who is the person best able to defeat obama. it is not the person who rally south carolina it is the person who can rally the republican base. we had strong support they voted for newt. but they were positive toward us and will be enthusiastic about our cand days. we need to expand our base and that's where i come in. >> siantsor santorum thank you for the time tonight . good luck as you move forward and we'll be down there covering you on florida. >> we have been watching the headquarters of newt gingrich's supporters there . they are getting the crowds ready for his appearance. karl is there. and karl in >> hi. the gentleman you hear shouting behind me is speaker of the south carolina legislator bobby harold . he endorsed newt gingrich this

week and brought a ground game and credited with what they are calling here, a land slide with one geological metaphor and tsunami if you would like a marine one. the newt gingrich campaign is riding high and they are themselves surprised by the breadth of the victory. we'll be introduced to newt in a moment. as we wait for the introduction to end and winner of thitate to come out. they are talking about his ability to wall off the south from mitt romney and clinchh the nomination on the strength of tonight's victryy. 41-26 percent as they continue to count and 50 percent victory far wider and exceeding the poll overperformance for newt gingrich with a victory. the winner of the first south primary. >> innocent it amazing. maybe you can turn around.

times have changed. look at cameras and eye phones and trying to catch a glimpse of speaker newt gingrich, winner of the south carolina primary and he will come along side his wife callista and the turmoil and pockus on the brew with abc and his second wife marianne gingrich and how he turned it around and appears by the exit polls make it a winning issue for him. he is actually leading among women and married women and he according to the polls, won every group over. yeah, the question at the debate on thursday night is clearly appearing to be a decisive turning point and more than 50 percent of the voters here were undecided until that debate and friday morning, they woke up and supporting newt gingrich. you mention the iphones and

digital equipment in the air as people take pictures. the gingrich campaign made the argument that he doesn't need the money. social media and his innovation and use of technology and social media has helped the gingrich campaign in ways that the romney campaign didn't attempt and santorum because they didn't think they needed it. and santorum didn't attempt because they couldn't afford it and have the horse to do so. gingrich considers himself a innovativor and they are counting on social media to help them out with money. they want to raise more than 10 million inment next 10 days before florida in an attempt to wall off the south before mitt romney. we haven't seen the speaker or callista yet. >> we'll check in with chris wallace who is down there in dc. >> thank you, megyn.

this is the moment they would be telling newt gingrich what to say tonight and note to strike, karl. >> what's got him this far, he is a conservative and mitt romney is a massachusetts moderate. he needs to reemphasize this and got here in part by taking on the media and maybe an opportunity to proclaim that success and tactic. >> are you serious, would you rub it in in >> yeah, i would. it gave him a launch this week and first debate was fox and he took on juan williams and john king through threw him a soft ball that he plastered outs of the field. it worked and it worked in the previous debates. he has said thing earlier debates. not take on each other but take on obama and take on the media. >> joe, i want to pick up on what mitt romney said.

he went after newt gingrich. he basically linkked obama to gring gingrich and said those who pick up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow and those who disparage free enterprise are not fit to be the nominee. >> he should rub it in on the media and then get on a plane and go to florida to give florida a choice and really try to make it rightt now between him and romney and and clear out the field. that's what he has to do get santorum out of there. >> talk about what santorum said. three different winners, iowa, santorum, new hampshire romney. south carolina, gingrich. what does that say, karl about the field of candidates and the way republican voters view them in >> we have a volatile year and probably the most volatile for the republican

primary season. real quick since 1980. >> let me say he's dying to use it. >> since 1980, south carolina primary, average winning number is 45 percent and averagin is 17. by parison. >> right now gingrich has 41 percent and ahead by -a 15. >> let's be careful oh, my god it is the most historic thing that happened. the guy who came in fifth in new hampshire come in first in south carolina. the nature of the victory in carolina is very much in line historically. >> you are going to poign it out. dick >> iowa 24.6 percent was the winning number. >> that's rick santorum . less than one-10th of a percent. and new hampshire 39 percent for mitt romney and 16 points better than the next guy. and incidentally 30 points better than newt gingrich in

the state. tonight we are roughly in the area. >> so you are saying nice win for newt gingrich. >> this will go on and on and on. republicans want it to go on. and i am sure everybody who owns a television station in the upcoming primaries want it as well. >> these things are all about momentum in the early states. santorum should have had momentum coming out of iowa. you are not known and don't have mon yeyou win iowa to get that. and once it goes away you never get it back not out of iowa. right now the guy with the momentum is newt gingrich and that has to scare the daylights out of the romney camp. that can roll on for a few it will go back to romney. but right now newt has it. >> what about florida, karl. clear politics average. prior to tonight romney was ahead by 18 points and you said he spent 7 million

already and 200,000 people who voted how much of a lead and head start does he have. >> it gives him an advantage. how much attention to each one of the subsequent primaries pay to the prevous. not much. what they pay attention to is the debates and activities of the campaign in between. is 10 days enough fo for newt gingrich to catch up. i don't know. conventional wisdom will say no. >> he was able to turn the world around in five-days in south carolina. back to you guys in new york. >> one question to ask karl. i don't know if he has an ifb or not. he's pointing out the difference is not that big and we shouldn't go over board about how big of a win this is for newt gingrich. historically south carolina has had the winner of the nomination, that is significant. >> that's right. with one important, the winner

of south carolina won iowa and new hampshire. we are in unchartered territory now. no one has won the tructure that we set up so far meaning the first 3contest going to three different candidatings. >> why then have all of the south carolina winners won the nomination? is there something about different this year? >> it broke the tie. one person won iowa and one in new hampshire and person in south carolina broke the tie. we have three winners. santorum in iowa and mitt romney in new hampshire and newt gingrich in south carolina. and i think sarah palin touched on it earlier, the idea that we keep vote going on. you saw it in the interviews, i was thinking for newt gingrich and romney and newt gingrich and that is a sign f a contest that can on and on. journey is playing in the newt

gingrich headquarters. don't stop believing. we didn't mean to hijack your panel. journey is playing and we felt the moment. >> well done karl rove. it is the we will take you right back as soon as the candidate comes out to the stage. stay with us. [ todd ] hello? hello todd. just calling to let you know

i'm giving you the silent treatment. so you're calling to tell me you're giving me the silent treatment? ummm, yeah. jen, this is like the eighth time you've called... no, it's fine, my family has free unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes. i can call all i want. i don't think you understand how the silent treatment works. hello? [ male announcer ] buy unlimited messaging and get free unlimited calling to any mobile phone on any network. at&t.

>> bret: welcome back. looking live at newt gingrich campaign head quarters. still looking at the same door which we believe newt and calista gingrich will come through momentarily and we will bring you the speech which should be very interesting knowing the former speaker and the week he has had after a huge win here in south carolina. huge in the fact that it is also really large between first and second. the distance. the percentage point difference and, of course, mitt romney in second. rick santorum in third and ron paul in fourth. >> do you think anybody is going to pull out their iphone and say this is the moment he walked in. that is five people's heads but there he is in the background and you can see him walking?

>> bret: maybe so. people use their iphones and eye pads for calculators and that sort of thing. >> you are one of them. >> hemmer and i do this on new year's eve every year. and we have the iphones and i can never see anything and never watch the videos. bill, am i alone in that? >> you are not. i use michael crater, too my cn the iphone. this is what amounts to an absolute blowout in south carolina tonight. just look at the results as they come in now from south carolina. right about, okay. so we are 82% reporting. gingrich in the yellow or the lime color. romney in orange. he is at 41%. romney 27%, this is the map of the counties. the 46 counties of south carolina. it is all gingrich with two exceptions. charleston county here and richland county here. contrast with what mccain and huckabee did four years ago. this is mccain in 2008 in the

red and this is huckabee up here in the northern part of the state in the blue. come back to 2012. and look what gingrich has been able to do here. he has taken all of the counties that mccain won. let me get you a better color here. do this in red. taken all the counties that mccain has won and taken the upper loop here that huckabee had. gingrich has run a circle literally in south carolina around mitt romney. and this is phenomenal as he comes in there down there in south carolina. we will wait for his speech. and charleston county some of the results still coming in. romney a slim lead there but there will be more votes to be tabulated there. and i mentioned richland county where the capital city is. romney has a lead there. there were a lot of votes in this county still to be counted. it is possible, it is possible that gingrich could win perhaps all 46 counties by the time this thing is done.

at the moment, charleston county the low country is his strength. other than that, newt gingrich has performed what can be summarized as an absolute blowout tonight in the palmetto state and in a moment we will show you the issues in florida and how they are similar in a lot of ways to what we are seeing in south carolina. wow, wow, wow. >> the lime green really tells the story. he won in counties that john mccain, that is gingrich did in counties that john mccain won easily not just in 2008 but in 2000. they were expected to favor mitt romney today and they did not. this could have significance well beyond, south carolina, in the case. >> as you look live now. a live shot as the gingrichs make their way to the stage through a crowded room back there and that cameraman is getting pushed around some guys with wine glasses. let's bring in the panel. steve, juan and brit. you look at newt gingrich getting ready take this stage.

what about this week and the turn around in this campaign of newt -- i meant brit. what do you think about this campaign and what has happened? >> this is a whopping victory. no question about it. it is test ament to gingrich's determination. a testament in my view above all to his skill in debate and aggressiveness in debate which seems to be what the voter is of south carolina, the republican electorate in south carolina wanted above all to see. they wanted somebody who could take on their adversaries and others that they do not like and speak up on the issues that they care about in a way some of them as juan can attest, some social issues, other issues as well. and above all another for the people in south carolina, republicans in south carolina was the mainstream media. his response to the mainstream media rang bells. a huge victory for a guy who ran an aggressive campaign. acceling in debate and a loss

for somebody who ran what i think would be looked upon as a some what timid campaign and failed to take the opportunities presented to him by the attacks on him to make a ringing defense not only of himself but the system in which he worked and the way he worked in it. >> meaning mitt romney. >> yes. >> speaker gingrich often mentions ronald reagan and brings him up almost every speech. ronald reagan also tapped into that emotion, that feel that the conservative base wanted at it. do you see the same thing happening on a different scale? a different time? >> i think they are very different people. very different personality. much of what gingrich showed tonight and regan occasionally showed flashes of it it but not the way gingrich has. gingrich is a guy that is angry a lot of the time. when tried it out in early debate it didn't move. it worked in south carolina. whether it will travel well. whether as it has been suggested tonight if he picks up that theme and pounds away it will carry over in other states remains to be seen.

ronald reagan was much more i think a newt gingrich of a happy warrior. >> the question is whether anger like the realization of we are mad as hell and we can't take it any more and we are not going to take it any more does that play over the long haul or start to turn off voters? juan? >> earlier we were talking about this. i think it is almost a take radio aesthetic. a conservative talk radio passion that i think a lot of the voters are responding to that is coming from newt gingrich. >> people are angry, aren't they? >> yes, and in fact if you look at republican voters and the numbers, 80% say they want barack obama out now and that has been the critical issue for them that unites republicans like nothing else. that is why i think you heard tonight from mitt romney on the electability question, the suggestion that not only that that he can win but that newt can't win in a big election. >> i bet that will -- we will get steve in after we listen to newt gingrich on a very big night for him.

>> newt can win! newt can win! newt can win! >> okay. >> a whole newt world! >> newt! >> okay. let me, first of all, say thank you to everyone in south carolina who decided to be with us in changing washington. [ applause ] calista and i are particularly

happy to have our daughters, our son in laws, my two chief debates coaches maggie and robert, you are both right here. and we are delighted to have my sisters are here, robbie and susan. just terrific. i also want to recognize several people who are just extraordinarily important in south carolina making this happen. judge billy and debra wilkins just really took over and did a great job. my former colleague, former congressman john nappier is a class act. a great job statewide putting things together. house majority leader kenny bingham came onboard and helped us with the statewide network. speaker bobby herelle was tremendous. we traveled the last several days together. andre bauer made a big diving

difference. we had a team on the staff who worked endless hours week after week, they did a great, great job. [ applause ] >> so there are so many things and caucuse calista and i havey memories from so many parts of the state. everybody including people who by accident or misinformation were for the other candidates but you everybody was nice to us everywhere. and i want to say that i think south carolina showed southern hospitality as beautifully as anyplace we have been. i also want to mention in

particular general livingston who is a congressional medal of honor winner who gave me the great honor in yorktown of introducing me yesterday and to have a man of that courage and that patriotism and that dedication to freedom come out and support us made a big deal and everybody who went to yorktown, it was a remarkable evening and i'm grateful to everybody for that moment of patriotism. [ applause ] >> the biggest thing i take from the campaign in south carolina is that it is very humbling and very sobering to have so many people who so deeply want their country to get back on the right track.

[ applause ] >> so many people who are so concerned about jobs, about medical costs, about the every day parts of life and who feel that the elites in washington and new york have no understanding, no care, no concern, no reliability and in fact do not represent them at all. [ applause ] >> in the two debates that we had here, in myrtle beach and then in charleston where people reacted so strongly to the news media, i think it was something very fundamental that i wish the powers that be in the news media would take seriously. the american people feel that they have elites who have been trying for a half century to force us to quit being american and become some kind of other

system. and the reaction, people completely misunderstand what is going on. it is not that i am a good debater. it is that i articulate the deepest felt values of the american people. [ applause ] >> you you know, this is a remarkable system. what makes us different from virtually every other country in the world is that we are free and because we are free we can produce leadership from an amazing range of places. now, sometimes that leadership is good. we once had an actor who made movies with chimpanzees. he turned out to be one of our greatest presidents and ended up with the disappearance of the soviet empire. we once had a peanut farmer nuclear physicist. he didn't turn out to be quite as good.

but we -- but the genius of america is that you can come from any background. i watched tonight the fine speeches of the other three candidates on our side. and i was struck with how much they reflected the openness of the american system. you know, rick santorum showed enormous courage in iowa when had no money, nobody covered him. and he just kept campaigning. his -- i rest my case. he has made an impact, right? i mean here is a guy who articulates the values of social conservativism, who articulates the importance of manufacturing and who may have been as right about the dangers of iran as anybody in this country in the last ten years.

and then as a further example of how wide open our system is. you have dr. ron paul who on the issue of money and the federal reserve has been right for 25 years. and while i disagree with him on many other things, there is no doubt that a lot of h his critique of inflation of fiat money and of the federal reserve is in fact absolutely right direction and something i can support strongly. and finally, governor romney with who i disagree on many issues is nonetheless a good example of america. hard working and very successful. he has organized large systems. he did a terrific job at the winter olympics. and the fact is if you look at the four of us, we are proof

that you can come from a wide range of backgrounds and in america you have a chance to try to make your case no matter what the elites think in new york and washington. >> usa! usa! usa! you have short of just -- sort of just now captured the heart of this campaign. the fact is we want to run not a republican campaign. we want to run an american campaign. [ applause ] because we are optimists about the future because america has always been optimistic about the future and it we believe as

our new sign which just got made today points out if we unleash the american people we can rebuild the america that we love. now, i believe and calista and i decided to run because we after a year of conversation concluded that this is the most important election of our lifetime. if barack obama can get reelected after this disaster just think how radical he would be in a second term. >> no more years! >> i have a proposal. with your help we are now moving ton florida and beyond. [ applause ] and i want you to know that if

and by the way any one here who knows any one in florida, please contact them by sometime tomorrow, okay? and my good friend louie knows many people in florida and i'm confident he will have an impact. but, if i do become your nominee and i think with your help i will become your nominee, but we'll need your help, together, if that happens, then it is all up to all of us to work to make it happen. if that happens, then i will -- then i will challenge president obama to seven 3-hour debates. to be fair, to be fair, i don't want you be disappointed. but i already have conceded

that he can use a teleprompter if he wants to. after all, if you had to defend obama care wouldn't you want to be able to use a teleprompter? now, there are a number of key issues that we have to talk about with the president. i'm going to get there in a second. i believe this campaign comes down to economics including jobs, economic growth, balancing the budget, the value of money, comes down to national security, what threatens us and what we have to do about it. but the centerpiece of this campaign i believe is american exceptionalism versus the radicalism of saul olinsky. and -- >> usa!

usa! usa! well, you know, this is a lot to just doing that because the fact is what we are going to argue is that american exceptionalism, the american declaration of independence, the american constitution, the american federalist papers, the founding fathers of america are the source from which we draw our understanding of america, he draws his from radical left wingers and people who don't like the classical american. and one of the issues, one of the issues we are going to address head on. she would be a great first lady and with your help she will be a great first lady. one of the key issues and i'm

prepared to take this straight at the president and frankly straight at the elite media. one of the key issues is the growing antireligion bigotry of your elite. -- of our elite. and if you get a chance, if you go to newt.org my campaign site there is a 54-page paper there on the balance of power putting the judiciary back in its proper role and eliminating dictatorial religion bigots such as judge berry in san antonio who issued a ruling that if the students not only could the stew you dents not -- students not pray at their graduation. if they used the word benediction, the word invokation, the word god, asked the audience to stand for or ask for a moment of silence he he would put the superintendent in jail. now --

>> [crowd booing] >> we don't have speech dictatorship in america by antireligion bigots, period. the second big theme frankly is one that every south carolinian understands. it is jobs, economic growth, balancing the budget. having stable money. and let's be very clear and again this makes some of the elite media nervous. president obama has been historically the most effective food stamp president in american history. i worked with ronald reagan to create jobs and 16 million jobs were created by the american people in the 1980s. i worked with bill clinton a democrat to create jobs and 11 million jobs were created by the american people during the four years that i was speaker. i would like to be the best pay check president in american history.

and i want to go in to every neighbor of every ethnic background of every city of the country and say to people if you want your children to have a life of dependency and food stamps your candidate is barack obama. independence and pay checks your candidate is newt gingrich and i bet you we have votes everywhere. part of jobs in the economy frankly is to shrink the power of washington. i just talked tonight with governor rick prosecutorry who is deeply committed. -- rick perry. i was generous for hissence doesment. his passion and implementing the 10th amendment. we will work with him to return power to the states, to the local governments, to get it

out of washington, d.c. but one reason that i ask you you to be with me and not just for me. if we shrink the washington bureaucracy we have to grow citizenship back home to fill the vacuum. i am also committed to getting back to a balanced budget and since i am the only speaker of the house in your lifetime to have helped create 4 consecutive balanced budgets, i think i can tell you as president i will work very hard to get back to a balanced budget as rapidly as possible and then to run a surplus to pay down the debt so no chinese leverage exists on the united states by having our debt. part of our long-term national security has to be having an american energy policy.

i want america to become so energy independent that no american president ever again bows to a saudi king. [ applause ] >> and let me give you an example of a common sense conservativism that solves problems. you have well over $29 billion of natural gas off shore. as president i will authorize on the very first day the development of it. that natural gas offshore will create job that in louisiana average $80,000 apiece. in addition it generates royalties. part of the royalties should be used to modernize the port of charleston which affects one out of every five jobs in south carolina. but it is not -- it is not enough just to find the money. the corps of engineers current bureaucracy is so long and so

stupid that they currently take eight years to study, not to do the project, to study the project. we fought the entire second world war in three years and eight months. if you can beat nazi germany and japan in three years and 8 months it is almost unimaginable it now takes 8 years to study the project. i want to fundamentally overhaul the entire federal government at every level to produce a modern lean effective federal government. let me also say that the president's decision to veto the keystone pipeline -- [crowd booing] >> you have to wonder how out of touch with reality this administration is? it is one thing to say that they can't play chess at the white house. it is another thing to say they can't play checkers at the

white house. but if they can't play tic tac toe, the president says no, we don't want you to build a pipeline from central canada straight down with no mountains intervening to the largest petrochemical center in the world, houston so that we would make money on the pipeline. managing the pipeline. refining the oil. and make money in the ports of houston and galveston shipping to them. we don't want to do that because barack obama is taking care of extremist left wing friend. what prime minister harper who is a conservative and proamerican. what he has said is that he will cut a deal with the chinese and they will build a pipeline straight across the rockies to vancouverer. we will get none of the jobs. none of the energy. none of the opportunity. now, an american -- an american president who can create a chinese canadian partnership is truly a danger to this country.

but it gets worse. last sunday the saudis announced they were signing a deal with the chinese to build nuclear energy facilities in saudi arabia. so the saudis are now saying we so distrust the obama administration we would rather rely on the chinese. the iranians for two weeks taunt us with exercises aimed at closing the straits of hormuz and the obama administration answers to cancel military exercises to israel because we don't want to provoke the iranians? president obama is a president so weak that he makes jimmy carter look strong. let me just say that i believe the debate we are going to have with president obama over the next 8 or 9 months.

the outlining of the two americas. the america of pay checks. the america of food stamps. the america of independence. the america of dependence. strength in foreign poly. weakness in foreign policy. those two choices i believe will give the american people a chance to decide permanently whether we want to remain the historic america that has provided opportunity for more people of more backgrounds than any country is history for whether in fact we prefer to become a brand new secular european style bureaucratic socialist system. i agree with you. i'm running because calista and i looked at the future formaggi and robert decided no we are not going to go the route of obama and these kind of radical ideas. so, in order to carry out this

great debate to rally the american people to reasserting their belief in america, to winning the election decisively this fall, to profoundly changing washington starting on day one when, by the way, we abolish all the white house czars. [ applause ] >> to do that, to do that we need to build on this victory by going to florida. i need your help in reaching out to people in florida. i need your help in finding anybody who believes in what we are doing and telling them to go to newt.org. just my first name. to sign up, to donate, to get involved. we don't have the kind of money that at least one of the candidates has. but we do have ideas and we do have people and we have proved here in south carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money and with your help we are going to prove

it again in florida. thank you. good luck and god bless you. [ applause ] >> former speaker newt gingrich with a big win in south carolina says it is not that i'm a great debater. he said i articulate the deepest felt values of the american people. he then went on to list positive attributes of the other candidates. rick santorum, ron paul and mitt romney saying the four of us are proof you can come through from a wide range of backgrounds no matter what the media elites in new york and washington think. a theme he hit numerous times. he says it is the most important election of our lifetime. and asks supporters to call any one they know in florida. >> joining us to help dissect all of this is fox news contributor and former pollster for president jimmy carter pat coudell. >> a big victory for him. and i think he faces a big

test. he won the big test he needed in this contest and i have been saying, i said it to you on the night of the special since new hampshire which is romney it was going to be romney versus romney. he didn't make a compelling case. the question was who was going to be the beneficiary. gingrich wipe wiped it out on e debates and has had a second lazarus. he has done lazarus up one better. he has come back to the life from the dead twice in six months. he has tried obviously to get to a big theme. the question for him is the structural politics will change now in florida. the heat is off romney not about his taxes but about whether he will be cor core na. i thought he was headed to that in the beginning of his speech. by the end i didn't think he got there but i think he was trying. >> pat you are a native south carolinian. the difference between first

and second is more than 70,000 votes right now. >> yeah. >> when you look at the votes, the exit polls, what south carolina was telling the rest of the gop what do you take away from it? >> what i took away from it looking at it is that and i went through all of the numbers and went through all of the counties. first of all, i have never seen this this across-the-board in this kind of contested race. he managed to unite the up country which is evangelical. he also just won every group. but you more importantly i think it was a statement about romney, that he really failed a test for him and raises serious questions. for the gingrichs it is a whole new moment, bret. >> pat, let me ask you this. you heard him talk about this is what the campaign comes down to. american exceptionalism versus

sal olinsky. that may play to a republican place, the radicalism, that kind of thing. should he become the general election candidate. >> he can't afford to yet. you know, the problem is he is in the middle of a republican primary looking for someone to beat obama. some of that won't work in a general election but parts of it are. what i think you hear gingrich doing is trying to get to a big summary theme and he hasn't got thereby. he is talking about big ideas at a moment when the country is desperate for big solutions. >> steve, your thoughts on the speech and what pat was saying there? >> i thought it was a smart speech for newt gingrich. you can imagine a speech where he is overenthusiastic about the victory and says something to get him in trouble and he avoided doing that. rather graciously is complimenting opponents. it went on too long. i think he should have cut it off ten minutes earlier. i don't think that will matter

in terms of what i is coming next. a battle between ideology with newt gingrich. and with mitt romney organization planning structure. mitt romney has been in florida now on the air for nearly a month. he has been working absentee ballot there's since mid december. after long days campaigning in iowa and new hampshire he stopped in to town halls with voters in florida. this is somebody who has been planning for this fight in florida setting up trying to set up something as a firewall. the question is given this what we see in a 25 point swing this week do firewalls even matter any more? >> juan? >> interesting to hear speaker gingrich now try to pick up on the populist idea we are against dependency and entitleist and against what he calls the food stamp president all that. this is the same newt gingrich who introduced the idea that somehow what mitt romney had

done at bain capital was illegitimate and playing to poplar sentiments on the right. i was taken by the fact that in all of the comments from the candidates tonighter this talked about it is going to be in the words of ron paul the beginning of a long hard slog. in the words of mitt romney a long primary season. and mitt romney is going to go back now with the help of the republican establishment i think at newt gingrich and make the case that he has never run business. never run a state. and he is joined in the assault and free enterprise. we'll see how that plays out. >> and more to be made in the case against newt gingrich as a republican nominee by republican offensiv office hols across the country. from the latest poll, this is favorability versus

unfavorability. rick santorum, 31 favorable. 34 unfavorable. newt gingrich 27% favorable. 56% unfavorable. believe me, republicans in congress will be terrified to run with this man for fear they will lose the house and senate and begin to do what they can to try to defeat him because they fear he can't win the election and moreover may drag many down to defeat with him. he has a lot of work to do to change their minds. i'm not sure he can. >> panel, thank you very much. that is it for us here tonight. what a big night for newt gingrich and for us. exciting. >> very exciting. and florida very exciting as well. >> ten days away. thanks for being with us. primary. florida ten days away. complete coverage starting 6:00 p.m. january 31. >> not just that but special report every night at 6:00 p.m. america live 1:00 to 3:00. tivo at the minimum.

coming up at the top of the hour the full story of the italian cruiseship disaster in a fox news reporting special hosted by holes, geraldo rivera. >> have a great night. captioned by closed captioning services, inc. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. r science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three y we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love ience. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

my son and i never missed opening day. but with copd making it hard to breathe, i thought those days might be over. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps ificantly improve my lung function, srting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today m breathing beer, and at means... game on! symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye oblems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it.